Newborn child, seconds after birth. The umbilical cord has not yet been cut. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6.am, January 26, 2002.

This is a true story, please read on.

They left their house optimistic about the new baby that would soon grace their home, the husband helped his beaming, but heavily pregnant wife into their brand new Toyota Carina‘s car and they zoomed out of their new house en route the hospital.

12 hours later… At 11pm. The baby’s head was not descending.

”Too big,” the junior doctor on duty murmured and decided on a caesarean section, a process where they would surgically remove the baby. They paged the consultant who came to the hospital within fifteen minutes. As the wife was slowly wheeled into the theatre, she saw her husband by the door, he looked tired and petrified, he had been a sentry all day at the hospital reception, waiting for his wife and new son to come out.

She touched his hand and whispered with tears in her eyes, ”I am so sorry, I tried,”

”It’s okay darling, I’ll be waiting for you, I love you,” and he kissed her on the cheek, and she disappeared into the theatre, and the battle began.

A forty-five minutes operation turned into two, three, four hours… The anaesthetic applied was three times over the limit and the drug shut down her heart, the mistake was to set in motion a series of errors which ended in tragedy…

*******

The consultant’s brows creased up in a frown, everything that could go wrong did, and he was very close to this particular patient, he was quite fond of her and her new husband. What he loved about them was their love for each other, so he would do everything within his power to make sure she did not die on his watch.

”Time of death, 2.21 am,” a young doctor announced, he had been on his feet all day,  he’d managed a toasted bread since morning and was teetering towards exhaustion. Nurses had been on strike at the general hospital for a week, and he had been on duty almost every day, keeping his eyelids open was a herculean task.

”No,” the consultant snapped,  ”charge the defibrillator to two hundred.” They did, and there was a beeping sound on the machine, which indicated the heart was regularly beating, sighs of relief permeated the atmosphere as the consultant worked feverishly to bring the baby out. With that part over, the baby who was blue due to lack of oxygen was quickly taken to the neonatal intensive care. The doctor was sewing her up when there was another flat line.

The stubborn doctor performed external chest compression, and the defibrillator ( a machine used to send an electric shock to the heart to make it work again) was used to charge her heart again, and it worked, but only for a few minutes and the third time her heart stopped, the doctor wanted to call it. He asked a nurse to page another consultant while he ordered one of the junior doctors to start external chest compression and he fled the theatre.

Outside, he saw the husband sitting down, looking lost and very tired. When the husband heard approaching footsteps, he jumped to his feet and blurted out.

”How is my wife, is she okay?” The doctor swallowed hard before replying.

”There was a technical problem about the anaesthetic, and I am so sorry.” But the words got stuck in his throat, he couldn’t bring himself to say his wife was dead. Instead, he grabbed his hands and promised, ”your wife would be fine, have you seen your son?”

”Yes,” the husband replied with his voice trembling, ”he doesn’t look too good,”

The doctor nodded and rushed back to the theatre, the junior doctor was still performing the compressions. The consultant took over as two senior doctors entered the theatre, and they fought to save the life of this young wife.

*****

7th February 2002.

The husband sat down in his living room surrounded by family and friends, they prayed, they cried, and they left.

And he was alone… there was no crying of a newborn infant, just dead silence.

He sat alone, staring into space. And then his wife walked in from the room, and he stood up, they hugged.

He was no longer alone. Their son did not survive, but the wife did. They have another chance to start again, they mourned for Angel, their son, but knew they would see him again on heaven’s shores.

03 December 2002.

Eleven months later, they welcomed another son into their home, and their joy was full, it was a miracle.

Four years later, a daughter came and another four years later, another son.

And they said the Lord has been merciful…

I was (is) that woman… And my husband… well he was (is) the…husband. I believe in second chances, I was dead, but I am alive again! Don’t you think that was so sweet?